Personalia

Tuning and temperament do not amount to tinkering with some new tuning
chosen at random, seeing if one likes it (one nearly always does,
especially if a friend has invented it) and then spreading round a
little flattery of oneself and others. There is nothing profoundly wrong
with this, as a harmless hobby ? it indicates a much more sympathetic
nature than the typical musician or composer, who simply does as he is
told, with the materials somebody assigns to him from on high. But much
deeper issues are involved in temperament and tuning; I have tried to
delve into some of these, I think with considerable success. If this
makes me an obnoxious bore with delusions of grandeur, it is the penalty
to be paid for being really fascinated with the subject at hand, and
willing to take it seriously enough to give it serious thought.

Apparently my comments about the rather evident failings of modern
Western academic musicians have been interpreted by a few as the ravings
of an uncultured brute. There is definitely such an animal; there is
also such a thing as an academic poseur devoid of true knowledge or even
real interest in his subject, who delights in producing 'music' that he
himself knows to be one vast practical joke. I touch on these matters
only as they relate directly to tuning matters; I have no inclination to
examine all music here. To observe that we live in a very strange
musical culture, where elaborately-trained composers produce almost
nothing that the masses want to hear, whereas the masses _did_ want to
hear a Mozart or a Beethoven or a Tchaikovsky, is not meant to insult
anyone; it is to state a fact. The noted music critic Henry Pleasants
published several good books on this subject. Now the masses prefer rock
music. It should be a matter of personal survival for academic musicians
to inquire why. For ultimately, the cozy little academic world, with all
its fine people making real, precious contributions (one thinks of the
scholars who have revived Renaissance polyphony) depends on popular
confidence and respect for its existence.

A century ago the music of the social elite differed from popular music
only in being more elaborate, but now it differs fundamentally. Go into
a typical university music library. You will see tens of thousands of
titles, but no more than a few dozen that study why Western music has so
dramatically split into two essentially alien traditions. Tuning and
temperament have some small part in this, and it is fully justified to
examine such questions here, insofar as they relate to the choice of a
tuning. This developing musical civil war within our culture does
definitely relate to our intonational habits and choices.

Finally, I do hope that the mere length of my posts is not offensive. On
some of the musical lists I have read it is not uncommon to find a
professor going on for 30 closely-typed pages. I have done nothing like
this, keeping in mind the words Tuning 'Digest'.

When I meet a crank or a bore, I usually ignore the rubbish, and try to
learn something. Usually even the silliest people know at least
_something_ that I do not know, and would never have known on my own. At
the least they often provoke me to think ? as I have certainly done for
several of the people here who profess to dislike my conclusions the
most.


SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
From: "Paul H. Erlich"
Subject: Reply to R. C. Valentine
PostedDate: 23-12-97 22:44:10
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